Leveraging technology is a key way for small businesses to improve their operations, cut costs, improve efficiencies and enhance their business security. Remote monitoring services have emerged as a powerful tool in this landscape, offering small businesses the ability to oversee their assets and operations from afar, 24/7. Here are the top 5 benefits of remote monitoring services for small businesses.
- What are Remote Monitoring Services?
- What Can Remote Monitoring Do?
- 5 Benefits of Remote Monitoring Services for Small Businesses
- How Much Does Remote Monitoring Cost?
- Remote Monitoring at RMS
- Next Steps
What are Remote Monitoring Services?
Remote monitoring services enable organisations to oversee and manage various aspects of their IT infrastructure, physical assets, security systems, and other critical functions remotely. These services offer real-time monitoring, alerting, and proactive maintenance, ensuring efficient operation, security, and reduced downtime.
Remote monitoring services are often provided by a dedicated, professional monitoring company, allowing businesses and organisations to outsource their monitoring. The monitoring provider will connect a business’s system, which they wish to be monitored, to an alarm receiving centre (ARC), which provides constant monitoring for any issues or alerts so that an immediate response can be given if necessary.
What Can Remote Monitoring Do?
Remote monitoring services cover a wide range of functions, including IT infrastructure monitoring, security surveillance, asset tracking, energy usage tracking, and environmental monitoring. These cloud-based solutions can be scaled to meet specific needs and accessed from anywhere, providing organisations with valuable insights, enhanced security, and the ability to address issues before they lead to system failures, ultimately improving business continuity and asset management.
At RMS, we offer security and non-security monitoring solutions that can be tailored for small businesses.
5 Benefits of Remote Monitoring Services for Small Businesses
1. Enhanced Protection
Small businesses often face security challenges, whether it’s safeguarding physical assets, protecting data, or ensuring the safety of employees. Remote monitoring services allow a small business to keep a vigilant eye on their premises 24/7, with the ability to receive real-time alerts in case of unauthorised access, suspicious activities or a system or piece of equipment not working correctly. For example, these services can include security CCTV cameras, fire alarm systems, intrusion detection, EV charge points, AC systems etc. All of which would be accessible from a mobile device or computer.
Crucially, professional remote monitoring acts as a vital deterrent, especially as business crime figures in the UK continue to rise. Recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that business property robberies increased significantly in the last year, highlighting the growing risk to commercial premises across the country. Beyond simple break-ins, the sheer volume of high-risk assets, such as tools on a construction site or vehicles in a compound, means that reliable monitoring is essential for businesses in sectors like manufacturing and waste recycling. Remote monitoring helps to mitigate this risk by providing instant verification of alarms, allowing for a faster and more appropriate police or keyholder response. Furthermore, integrating advanced technology helps refine security. For instance, understanding the role of cybersecurity in alarm and CCTV monitoring ensures that your systems themselves are protected against digital threats.
In addition to securing physical assets, remote monitoring plays a critical role in safeguarding your personnel. For companies with staff working alone or outside of normal hours, a dedicated lone worker monitoring service provides an essential safety net, ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations. Remote operators can also conduct scheduled remote security patrols of your property, virtually checking critical areas without the cost of a physical guard. By leveraging AI and analytics, professional ARCs are increasingly adept at filtering out environmental triggers, meaning AI is reducing false alarms and operator fatigue in ARCs, ensuring that when an alert is sent, it is genuine and requires immediate action.
2. Cost Savings
Remote monitoring helps small businesses reduce operational costs significantly. By remotely monitoring energy consumption and equipment performance, they can identify and rectify inefficiencies promptly. This not only saves on utility bills but also extends the lifespan of equipment, reducing maintenance and replacement costs. Additionally, remote monitoring minimises the need for on-site staff for routine tasks, which contributes to cost savings on employee salaries.
3. Proactive Maintenance
Remote monitoring is a game-changer for small businesses when it comes to maintenance. Instead of reacting to equipment failures or downtime, they can proactively monitor the performance of critical systems and receive alerts when anomalies are detected. This enables you to address issues before they turn into costly problems, reducing downtime and improving overall operational efficiency.
This proactive approach extends far beyond conventional mechanical systems. Environmental threats, such as extreme weather, can cause significant damage. For example, remote flood and water monitoring allows for immediate intervention when water levels rise, protecting stock, equipment, and structural integrity. Similarly, in critical environments like server rooms or restaurants, monitoring temperature and humidity can prevent catastrophic equipment failure. For sectors like logistics and construction, implementing monitoring is key to project stability, ensuring that critical assets and temporary structures remain safe. In fact, many businesses, such as those in the property development sector, find that remote monitoring is an essential step in knowing how to secure construction sites with remote monitoring and manage risk effectively.
4. Business Continuity
Small businesses often lack the resources to invest in elaborate disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Remote monitoring helps bridge this gap by remotely monitoring IT infrastructure and data centres to ensure that critical systems are running smoothly. In the event of an issue, such as a server outage or data breach, immediate alerts allow for swift action to minimise disruptions and data loss.
The financial impact of business interruption for a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) can be severe, with some reports suggesting that the average cost of downtime can be significant, reinforcing the need for continuous vigilance. For example, a global survey highlighted that two-thirds of small businesses that suffer a major data loss or disaster go out of business within a year. By reducing the likelihood and duration of incidents, remote monitoring significantly strengthens your business resilience. This also has a direct correlation with financial risk, as professional monitoring can influence premiums and the terms of your policy. It is highly valuable for small businesses to know how remote monitoring impacts insurance premiums, as this often justifies the investment.
5. Scalability & Flexibility
The beauty of remote monitoring services lies in their scalability. Small businesses can start with a basic system and expand it as they grow. Whether they need to monitor a single location or multiple sites, remote monitoring solutions can be tailored to their specific needs. Furthermore, these services are flexible and can be customised to address various business operations, from tracking inventory and shipments to ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
As businesses evolve, particularly within the co-working or shared space model, the flexibility of remote monitoring becomes indispensable. Services like virtual concierge services can be instantly scaled up or down to manage front-of-house operations, visitor access, or remote site access outside of core business hours. The integration of monitoring in the age of smart buildings is also a significant trend, allowing small businesses to future-proof their operations and benefit from emerging technologies like AI-driven building management without substantial upfront capital investment, according to industry analyses from firms like McKinsey & Company.
6. Compliance and Risk Management
Beyond immediate security and efficiency, a significant, often overlooked, benefit for small businesses is the rigorous support remote monitoring provides for compliance and risk management. Many systems, particularly those related to fire, health, and safety, are not just good practice—they are legal requirements. Professional remote monitoring, particularly services based in accredited Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs), provides the audit trail and reliable response protocols necessary to meet stringent regulatory standards.
For any small business, ensuring that fire and intruder alarms are constantly supervised is a prerequisite for maintaining insurance validity and satisfying local authority requirements. Similarly, effective out-of-hours call handling is critical for managing tenant queries, emergency maintenance requests, and critical alerts when your core team is unavailable. This capability ensures issues are resolved quickly, protecting your business from penalties and reputational damage. We recommend reading a complete guide to out-of-hours call handling to see how this service can seamlessly support your operations. By outsourcing this essential function, small business owners can focus on core activities with the confidence that their non-security and compliance risks are being managed by experts.
How Much Does Remote Monitoring Cost?
The cost of remote monitoring services for small businesses varies depending on which system(s) they want remotely monitoring, as well as the size of the site and the number of components that need to be monitored. It’s therefore recommended to get a free quote from your professional remote monitoring provider.
Remote Monitoring at RMS
At RMS, we provide NSI Gold-approved 24/7 remote monitoring services for all types of businesses, big or small. Offering a transparent, honest and friendly service, we can offer bespoke solutions to small businesses that result in cost-effective and efficient means to improve their security, cut operational costs, maintain equipment, ensure business continuity, and scale their operations.
We pride ourselves in being able to support small businesses in enhancing their overall performance as well as providing peace of mind, knowing that their assets and operations are under constant vigilance, no matter where they are located, via our in-house, category 2 ARC.
Next Steps
If you’re interested in starting a new remote monitoring contract for your small business, or want to switch from your current provider, get in touch with the RMS team today. We’ll discuss your requirements and offer you a free, no-obligation quote.
Call us on 0330 002 1149 or click here to email us.
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